"If you want to know the real perpetrator of every disaster or every act of terrorism, look for the Zionist Jews. They are behind all the violent and terror operations that have occurred everywhere in the world. [They do this] first of all in order to slap [the label of the attacks] on the Arabs and Muslims, and second to harm them, distort their image, and represent them to the world as terrorists who endanger innocents. What is even more dangerous is that after every terror operation they perpetrate, they leave a sign, clue, or traces meant to show that the perpetrators are Arab Muslims....

"It is the Jews, with their hidden filthy hands, who play their part with expertise in order to harm the Arabs and Muslims and to intensify hatred towards them. They have experience in this area. All precedents attest to this. Their black history is the best possible proof that hatred toward the Arabs and the Muslims fills their hearts and blinds their eyes. They are behind all troubles, disasters and catastrophes in the world…"

"..Actually, it is they who are behind the events of September 11. Proof of this is what was broadcast by the Canadian news agency on September 17 ... that prior to the events the CIA had received a report that the Mossad would carry out an attack operation on American territory, in a new attempt to divert attention from the barbaric Israeli operations against the Palestinian people..... Dr. 'Atallah Abu Al-Subh, a columnist for the Hamas weekly Al-Risala (Gaza), November 1, 2001.

"What happened is, in my opinion, the product of Jewish, Israeli, and American Zionism, and the act of the great Jewish Zionist mastermind that controls the world's economy, media, and politics...""The goal of the suicide operations in New York was, in my opinion, to push the American people, President Bush, and NATO to submit even more to the Jewish Zionist ideology and the historical goals [it has held] since the Basel Congress in 1897, under the Zionist-Jewish slogan of 'Islamic terror'... We have said in the past that Jewish-Israeli-American Zionism is leading the region to disaster, and that it is trying to lead the Americans and its worldwide allies to world disaster. Perhaps what happened on American [ground] is the beginning of the world disaster."Ahmad Al-Muslih,Al-Dustour (Jordan), September 13, 2001.

"it is clear that Israel is the one to benefit greatly from the bloody, loathsome terror operation that occurred yesterday, and that it seeks to benefit still more by accusing the Arabs and Muslims of perpetrating this loathsome attack... Only Israel does not fear the discovery that the Jews are behind this operation, if indeed it was so; who in the US or outside it would dare to accuse them, as every blow to them means talk of a new 'Holocaust?' They, more than anyone, are capable of hiding a criminal act they perpetrate, and they can be certain that no one will ask them about what they do."Jordanian columnist Rakan Al-Majali , Al-Dustour, (Jordan), September 13, 2001.

"I personally eliminate the possibility that Arab and Islamic organizations stood behind these acts... Why [couldn't it be] that Zionist organizations perpetrated it, so that Israel could destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque while the world was preoccupied with what happened in America...?"Jordanian columnist Jihad Jabara: Al-Rai, (Jordan), September 13, 2001.

"I say that Israel benefits from the explosions... We all know that there are extreme religious groups in the US who believe that the coming of the Messiah is near, and who aspire to purify Americans of all their human crimes. Among them are those who believe in committing suicide in order to reach Paradise, through punishing the human race. Mass suicide of entire groups has already occurred. We do not know whether Jews as well, more precisely the Mossad, have not had a hand in what happened, out of evil and dangerous intentions."Jordanian columnist Mussa Hawamdeh: Al-Dustour (Jordan), September 13, 2001.

"There is a possibility that this was an [act of] ancient retribution... The US declared war on Japan, and used the atomic bomb for the first time, against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [The bomb] killed more than 221,983 Japanese, and was the cause of the Japanese defeat and the end of the war in 1945. Has the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki been resurrected sixty years later?" Syrian columnist Hassan M. Yussef, Tishrin (Syria), September 13, 2001.

"The ostensible motives of the Palestinians and Arabs [to carry out the attacks] are no different from those of millions of nations on the face of the Earth who suffer from American and Western oppression and injustice... [The Americans] should seek the perpetrators far from the region. Not everyone interested in confronting American policy also has the means to carry out such an act... Why can't the motive be a settling of historical accounts from World War II? Why can't the background [to the attack] be protest by those harmed by globalization; we noticed the strengthening of the spirit of their battle in Seattle, Genoa, and Athens...? Why can't the motive be linked to those harmed by the missile defense system?" Tallal 'Awkal: Al-Ayyam (Palestinian Authority), September 13, 2001.

"[Perhaps] the perpetrators of the attack belong to local American militias... It could also be that they are young people who hacked into the computer directing internal air traffic and aimed the airplanes at painful targets..." Nur Al-Din Sat'e, Al-Safir (Lebanon), September 12, 2001.

"Who are the ones who benefit from this act? They are, beyond a doubt, not the Arabs. An initial examination shows that some, such as Russia, China, and Israel, will benefit without any of them necessarily planning the operation. Perhaps everyone will be surprised to find that, once again, the operation was 'Made in the USA,' as American society is filled with extremist religious groups who consider themselves enemies of the state, its mechanisms and its liberal society..."

"...Even if it is proven that the perpetrator [of the US attack] is an American organization or a mafia gang, the damage to the Arabs is already done, as once an hour it is said that they are willing to support and commit such [acts of] terror... while Israel is deep in mourning and reminds the world that it too is subject to these kinds of suicide operations..."Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), September 13, 2001.

"I know a man of great wealth and terrifying influence, a tyrant who forces everyone to obey him... Suddenly, from out of the darkness, he is thrashed soundly on the backside. He turns around - but sees only ghosts." Ahmad Ragab, Al-Akhbar (Egypt), September 17, 2001.

"In all honesty, and without beating around the bush: I am happy about [what happened to] America; I am happy about the great number of American dead. Let them accuse me of whatever they want. It doesn't matter and it does not lessen the happiness and excitement that overwhelm me. No one can make me take back what I say, no matter what their claims and explanations. All the innocent citizens who were killed are victims of America's barbarism and terror, ranging over half a century... Count up the number killed by American weapons in the world and compare it to the number of those killed in the US; you will find that the number of [American dead] is much less than one percent [of the latter]. I have a right to rejoice; I have a right to be filled with happiness; the Americans are finally tasting the bitterness of death."Ahmad Murad, Al-Arabi (Egypt), September 16, 2001.

*

"Yes, we have the right to rejoice. This was the first step in a thousand-mile journey towards defeating America by a knockout. I cannot hide my feelings; I cannot restrain my joy. For the first time in my life, I witness with my own eyes the defeat of American arrogance, tyranny, conceit, and evil. For the first time, I ask myself: has Allah finally answered the prayers of mothers, the pleading of victims in Palestine, Iraq, and Libya?..."

"Should I lie and be hypocritical like the others, condemning the killing of civilians, expressing my sorrow over the American and other victims, or praying and donating blood? Why do we try to present the arrogant master in the White House with proof of our innocence? Never, throughout history, have we been caught with the blood of innocents dripping from our hands - the blood of the Indians, the slaves, the Vietnamese, the Palestinians, and the Iraqis. I do not want to form an alliance with America, the shame of [what happened in] Iraq is enough for me. I do not want to pray for the Americans or to donate my blood; I do not want to condemn what happened. America is the one who killed them, as it killed us in Iraq, and as it continues to slaughter us in Palestine."

"I rejoiced greatly at what happened to the American government, and I was very sorry about the civilian dead. Is this a contradiction? Of course it is a contradiction, but that's the way it was.")

Said Sh'eib Al-Arabi (Egypt), September 16, 2001.

"I cannot describe how joyful I felt. Of course, I didn't rejoice over the victims, because we must not gloat over the dead, but I rejoiced because the honor of the US has become a floor rag.”Maher Zuhdi: Al-Arabi (Egypt), September 16, 2001.

"Oh, yeah, guys, Her Royal Highness America has taken this defeat; she has turned out to be a paper tiger, and the Americans [have turned out to be] no more than a gang of delinquent children. It transpires that Bush...- who treated us like servants in his court - is no head of state, but a mouse leading a gang of mice. At the moment [this] occurred in New York and Washington, he left for parts unknown ..."

"Oh yeah, guys, they told us that he who stings America ends up in the grave. They told us that [America] protects the Arab royal families. They told us that [America] can find a black ant on a dark night in the parched desert; that it has the most powerful intelligence apparatus in the world that can detect what happens in our bedrooms – an apparatus that knows what kind of underwear the president of Iraq [wears]... It has been proven that it was all an illusion..."Salim 'Azzouz, Al-Ahrar (Egypt), September 14, 2001.

"I would have liked... to add to the flood of crocodile tears flowing from the four corners of the earth, as an expression of sorrow for America's victims... but I have found that my reservoir of tears ran dry a hundred years ago... Perhaps in [yet] another hundred years the time will come for me to cry over five thousand or even fifty thousand slain Americans."

"Did I say five thousand? Did I say fifty thousand? By Allah, this number is miniscule..."

"The tyrants of the world and of history (i.e. the Americans) suddenly discovered that their leader too could be attacked, and that the white Christian man can scream, suffer pain, bleed, and die..."

"Do you want me to cry, right this minute, over two or three buildings? By Allah, that's ridiculous. How can someone who knows how you destroyed countries and obliterated cities from the face of the earth be sorry about two buildings..."

"Despite all this, I did not exult. Death has glory and majesty, even when it is a dog that dies, let alone five thousand souls. I sat in front of the television and tears filled my eyes. I admit, I did not cry out of sympathy [for the victims]; [I cried] out of fear of Allah the powerful, the precious, the victor, the avenger, the just; how he takes the tyrants just when they think they rule the Earthand are capable of confronting Him..."

"Islam is alive and well. The hero martyrs in Palestine are the ones who showed the world the incredible potential of the martyr's body. Whoever the perpetrators of the act [in the U.S.] may be, Islam is their teacher and their professor..."

"The genius of what happened is in its successful transformation from theory to practice. If people are willing to sacrifice their lives, how can America defend itself from these ambulatory human bombs who at any given moment, anywhere, can... cause a truck and a train to collide, set a gas station alight, and set off chemical, biological, and even atomic bombs.?"

"When writing this article, I was surprised to discover an article I wrote years ago, in which I warned America that going too far with its oppression would lead to its destruction, and that within a few short years it would be taken by surprise by atom bombs exploding in New York, Chicago, and California... That is what I said [then], and behold, it has come to pass... Additional operations are a certainty, and [they are] an inevitable response to American repression and tyranny... The U.S. will collapse from within, as did the U.S.S.R."

Dr. Muhammad Abbas, Al-Sha'ab, (Egypt) September 23rd 2001

"We have been prohibited from showing the happiness and joy that we feel, so as not to hurt the Americans' feelings - although in this case, rejoicing is a national and religious obligation. The US is Israel's protector. When it collapses in the blink of an eye, and we see the heroes as they flee in horror – a prohibition on rejoicing is a decree that the public cannot observe..."Salim Azzouz Al-Ahrar (Egypt), September 17, 2001.

"As far as I know," he wrote, "no organization in the world is capable of carrying out what happened. Therefore, we must assume that it [came from] outside the planet Earth... It is known that President Bush Sr. promised, in his election propaganda, to reveal the American government's secret contacts with organizations from outer space if he won the election. He said that the White House safe contained recordings of conversations between US president Eisenhower and spacemen. But Bush did not win, Clinton did; since then the matter has not been mentioned. Perhaps Bush Jr.... angered the spacemen in some way, and they tinkered with his airplanes, sending them to convey this terrible message...Sallah Kabdhaya, Al-Ahrar (Egypt), September 13, 2001.

"There is no reason to rejoice at the misfortune of the American people, who have not yet understood that five million Jews are not worth the sacrifice of all these victims... The US's position in the Arab-Zionist conflict causes Arabs to rejoice over every disaster visited upon the American government, though not on its people, because that government has gone too far in its oppression."Adel Al-Gouhari, Al-Ahrar (Egypt), September 17, 2001.

"I considered hiring a professional mourner, so as to adjust myself to the international atmosphere [of] hypocrisy and weeping over the victims of the explosions in America. But I knew that even those [professional mourners] who charge by the hour would refuse, even if I promised $100 for every tear."

"God, what will I do now? How can I write an article without cursing those terrorists who launched a war not only against the US, but against Western culture? How can I refrain from calling them wild, barbaric, Tatars, people who want to turn back [the clock of] civilization and progress to the days when we struck two flints together to make a fire? How can a columnist who thinks America got its just desserts - a punishment that suits [its crime of] sucking the blood of peoples - [how can he] be saved from the guillotine of the hypocrites... The lies inundate you from television screens, as [the hypocrites] express sorrow, donate blood, and place their intelligence systems at the disposal of the cardboard master... America weeps. Let it seek professional mourners by itself. I beseech you, do not participate in this demonstration of sorrow. If you are murdered by a bully, it is a humiliation; if they force you to march in his funeral procession, it is the zenith of humiliation. Pardon us, America; we have no tears left to share in your sorrow."Deputy editor Magdi Shandi, Al-Usbu' (Egypt), September 17, 2001.

"[Those moments of] exquisite, incandescent hell were the most beautiful and precious moments of my life. The towers, the walls, [symbols] of the [American] regime, were a modern, terrifying monster infiltrated by a brave and stinging hornet... This mythological monster was terrible in its pain, in its screams, and in its fall, that resembled Hell. All the media... broadcast these images for us over and over. The generations of the past, and, with Allah's help, the generations to come, will envy us for having witnessed them."Muhammad Mustagab, Al-Usbu' (Egypt), September 17, 2001.

"No man with human feeling can derive pleasure from the sight of the victims' bodies being torn apart, burned, and crushed under the ruins. Allah has created all human beings to live on this land under an umbrella of peace, love, and beauty. But some fools and idiots distort these lofty values and try to impose their behavior, their sick ideology, and their malignant idiocy... One of these was little Bush, whom cursed fate placed on the throne of the government of the superpower that rules the entire world. He is a tyrant; playing golf at his ranch, he smiles and is filled with joy when news reaches him of the number of Arab victims in Palestine, among them women, children, and the elderly. But Bush was woken from... his dream of false power by this blow, from which, I think, he will never recover."

"What happened in America has never happened before in the history of the human race. Nevertheless, the devil hastened to weep over the ruins, and to call on the world to stand beside the superpower, the symbol of civilization and democracy... Oh Bush, drink from the bitter cup of the blood of your people, so that you will [come to] know that Allah is just!"Farouq Abaza, Al-Usbu' (Egypt), September 17, 2001.

"Arafat may, perhaps, impress American public opinion with his theatrics, but I do not think he can convince the Arab viewer. Arafat also lacks credibility when he wraps his face in a veil of sorrow for the American victims... Arafat must stand with his people, and stop making a show of himself."Magdi Muhanna,Al-Wafd (Egypt), September 14, 2001.

"...'Allah Akhbar,' shouted the hero... The arrogance sunk in the filth... In the East, none shed a tear for you, Allah decreed the vengeance against you. If Allah had not wanted it, it would not have happened. Return to the path of righteousness, for the eye of Allah follows you..."Wahid Gahshan Afaq Arabiye (Egypt), September 19, 2001.

"In the eyes of Muslims, the US is a force of oppression, thus the Muslims see what happened as divine retribution, carried out under the supervision of Allah by unknown soldiers. America practically said to the world: Only I will teach you who is Allah. Allah wanted to teach it a lesson... If not for what happened, if the lion had not been wounded in his den, we would think that our prayers were in vain and we would despair... The Americans thought they could not be defeated... They preferred the apes (i.e. the Jews) to human beings, treating human beings from outside the US cheaply, supporting homosexuals and usury. They have forgotten that in this universe there is a God whose punishment no one escapes... Allah came because they did not expect him, bombing their hearts with horror..." Ammar Shammakh, Afaq Arabiye(Egypt), September 19, 2001.

"...I can swear that among the victims in and around the World Trade Center are some who do not deserve mercy, because they belong to the suckers of the blood of the peoples. But a man cannot rejoice at the misfortune of others, or hate in light of the loss of life. My humanity, that the American and Zionist policy tried to numb and contaminate, ultimately conquers the hatred and enmity, and stands by mankind..." Syrian Arab Writers Association chairman 'Ali 'Uqleh 'Ursan, Al-Usbu' Al-Adabi (Damascus), September 15, 2001.

"Even during World War II, American cities did not experience what the cities of Europe did. Because the Americans have lived for decades with a sense of security... they yearned for a sense of fear. So Hollywood made a film in which New York is attacked with an atom bomb; after that, [it produced] a series of films about flying saucers and invaders from outer space. The Americans did not settle for frightening themselves with nuclear wars and star wars; they began to make films about dinosaurs and other extinct creatures invading the streets of American cities... Now, the average American has no need to fear spaceships; all he has to do is lift his head and see a passenger plane in the sky to be deadly afraid." Ahmad Ragab, Akhbar Al-Youm (Egypt), September 23, 2001.

"For many long years, America made many peoples in the world cry. It was always [America] that carried out the acts; now, acts are being carried out [against] it. A cook who concocts poison must one day also taste that poison! The world has discovered that the strength of the oppressed is great when the situation becomes unbearable... The city of globalization, with its economic, political, and military symbols, has collapsed, and the theory of globalization will be buried with the establishment of the false coalition! Ali Al-Sayyed, Al-Ahram Al-Arabi (Egypt), September 22, 2001.

"The catchphrase 'Either you're with us or you're with terrorism' expresses arrogance and conceit. [The U.S.] sees the world according to American interests; it sees itself as the leader of the free world, civilization, and democracy. Anyone refusing to join it is expelled from its Paradise and has no place except in Hell... The Americans have no right to classify societies in this way. Every group has the right to choose a third way, rejecting both terrorism and the Americans...” Fahmi Hueidi, Al-Ahram (Egypt), September 25, 2001.

"Millions across the world shouted in joy: America was hit! This call expressed the sentiments of millions across the world, whom the American master had treated with tyranny, arrogance, bullying, conceit, deceit, and bad taste ... like every bully whom no one has yet put in his place. True, thousands of innocents became victims... among them Egyptians who had immigrated to the U.S. in search of opportunity and [a better] life; but what can a person do when the neighborhood bully gets [a blow] from behind that shakes his very existence, insults his dignity, and humiliates him? Obviously [the person] is glad, even if it is wrong to rejoice.." Dr. Nabil Farouq,Al-Maydan (Egypt), September 24, 2001.

"President Bush will continue to struggle between threatening to launch a crusader war and apologizing to the Muslims... Apparently, he doesn't want to understand that he is reaping the thorns sown by himself and all his predecessors in Palestine, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Japan. Behind every act of destruction is a little American demon... America cannot see the fate that awaits it, despite everything that happened on that bloody Tuesday; America is on its way to collapse, like all the empires of oppression throughout history. If only our generation would have the chance to witness that dramatic spectacle..." 'Issam Al-Ghazi,Al-Maydan (Egypt), September 24, 2001.

"He declares that anyone who does not support him supports terror, and woe betide anyone who supports terror. This kind of declaration can come only from leaders of Hitler's ilk..." Salim Azzouz, Al-Ahrar (Egypt), September 24, 2001.

"If Osama bin Laden is proven to be involved in the attacks on the U.S., I will make a statue of him and set it in my home; I will also hang his picture in my office. Because he has proven to us that the U.S., which we thought was an undefeatable force, can be humiliated.”Salim Azzouz, Al-Ahrar (Egypt) September 24, 2001.

"I loved Osama bin Laden's face, because it inspired confidence. I was amazed by his total belief in what he says... I very much admired this man, who chose ... and I am not addressing the quality of the choices he makes ... to leave a life of luxury, to take up arms against who he considers to be the enemy, and to go down in history as a man who shook the greatest empire in history." Said Sh'eib, Al-Arabi (Egypt), September 23, 2001.

"Although some were sorry about the killing of innocent Americans in Washington and New York, most of [our] people derived satisfaction from the insult to the American pride, and from the shaking of the faith that the American cowboy, Little Bush, places in the intelligence apparatuses and their agents throughout the world. There was nearly an Egyptian consensus on the matter, except for a few ministers who, in their hypocrisy, rushed to the American Embassy to ostentatiously offer their condolences." Retired general Sallah A-Din Salim, Al-Akhrar (Egypt), September 25, 2001.

"As a lawyer, I say to Suspect No. 1, as the American government calls him: Oh Osama... you are a hero in the full sense of the word. [You possess] all the manly virtues, those [virtues] lacking in the half-men who control the Muslim and Arab resources (i.e. Arab rulers). For this reason, you will continue to live in our hearts and in our minds... Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings upon you; no peace, no mercy, and no blessings on the traitors and cowards who have been blinded to the truth by the pleasures of domination. May you eradicate America and its 'infinite justice'; victory to Islam and the Muslims.” Dr. Ahmad Al-Magdoub, Afaq Arabiya (Egypt), September 26, 2001.

"This is the result of American policy. America and Israel are one," one Palestinian gunman said.

"This is the reaction required to confront the American and Israeli arrogance," said Mohamad Hallak, a 40-year-old Palestinian refugee from the southern Rashidiyeh camp in Tyre.

Firing rattled across Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and the West Bank as soon as television stations broke the news, carrying live footage of buildings on fire and collapsing and terrified Americans fleeing the stricken areas.

Jubilant Palestinians took to the streets of refugee camps of Lebanon and the West Bank, waving Palestinian flags and distributing sweets to celebrate the attacks on major U.S. landmarks and government offices. Some Lebanese shared the joy.

"We're ecstatic. Let America have a taste of what we've tasted," said Ali Mareh, a Lebanese resident of Beirut.

"People are happy. America has always supported terrorism. They see how the innocent Palestinian children are killed and they back the Zionist army that does it. America has never been on the side of justice," said Samir, a Lebanese.

"This is the language that the United States understands and this is the way to stop America from helping the Zionist terrorists who are killing our children, men and women everyday," said Mohamed Rasheed, a Palestinian.

Lebanon is home to some to 360,000 Palestinian refugees. After four generations of exile, many Palestinians feel embittered against the United States for its support of Israel -- a feeling which has grown during the present uprising in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

"Today is a feast for the Palestinians. We do not differentiate between America and Israel. America is our prime enemy," added another Palestinian. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks which leveled the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and struck the Pentagon in Washington.

Palestinians who have often burned U.S. flags in protests during their 11-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation also celebrated in the streets of Arab East Jerusalem.

"I feel I am in a dream. I never believed that one day the United States would come to pay a price for its support to Israel," said Mustafa, a 24-year-old Palestinian gunman.

Several dozen Palestinian youths gathered in Arab East Jerusalem to celebrate as well, honking out wedding tunes on their car horns. "We are so happy that America was hit. America is against us in supporting Israel," Suleiman, one of the demonstrators, said.

In Nablus, motorists honked their horns and gunmen fired into the air from assault rifles to cheer on the attacks which unfolded in the space of a few hours and stunned people around the globe.

Egyptian students, taxi drivers and shopkeepers crowded round television sets stacked up in electrical store windows in downtown Cairo Tuesday evening, celebrating a string of elaborate attacks on New York and Washington.

"Bullseye," commented two taxi drivers as they watched footage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York shrouded in plumes of smoke after two presumably hijacked planes slammed into them earlier in the day.

Another Egyptian man, Gawish Abdel Karim, told AFP he was pleased with the wave of violence in which another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, the heart of the US defence establishment.

"Nice work," said Abdel Karim, who drives a car for an Asian embassy.

"The Americans have forgotten that God exists. They have us by the throat and now they find themselves in a science fiction film scenario, but this time Rambo's not there to save the White House."

Anti-US sentiment has mushroomed on the streets of Egypt and other Arab countries over its widely-perceived support for Israel over the Palestinians in the past 11 months of violence in the Middle East.

As with other US facilities around the world, workers at US government offices and Egyptian citizens were taking security precautions, with only "non-essential" operations set to be covered on Wednesday.

However, US officials said there had been no credible or specific threat against US citizens or interests here.

Abdel Karim hailed the attacks as "the best thing that's happened since the October War," referring to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war when Egyptian forces made a surprise attack on the Israeli army across the Suez Canal.

"Mabruk! Mabruk! (congratulations)", shouted a crowd of people huddled round the shop window.

Egypt, considered one of the "moderate" countries in the Middle East, is one of the United States' strongest allies in the region, being the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

But people on the streets do not necessarily see themselves as US allies.

"The Americans are cowards. They use other countries to hit us. They don't have the courage to meet us face to face," said Khalil Matar, 43, who works in a state-run soap factory. "The myth of the indestructible United States has gone up in smoke." Polytechnic student Amira Ryad also vented her anger.

"We saw the tower crash down," she said, referring to one of the two towers of the World Trade Center, both of which were razed by the attack.

"I only wish (US President) George Bush and his dear little baby (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon had been buried in there too," she added.

Fellow student Murad went as far as speculating that the United States was behind the attacks, "to find an excuse for the National Missile Defence system" that Bush wants to deploy to protect the United States from so-called rogue states, despite widespread global opposition.

"Those people are capable of killing their own people to prove they're right," he said.

Egyptian President Hosni "Mubarak should know that the people can no longer be humiliated, but of course he'll never declare war" on Israel, the student said.

Another taxi driver said he was going to make special prayers to thank him for the attacks against the US.

Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations

Israel is demanding The Associated Press release a videotape of Palestinian celebrations held in the wake of Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States. The video reportedly captured Palestinian Authority security personnel participating in celebrations around the territories.

Israel claims the Palestinian photographer who shot the film and passed it on to The Associated Press received death threats.

Ra'anan Gissin, a senior aide to Sharon, called the incident "journalism under terror."

The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting the film following pressure from the Palestinian Authority.

Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment

Foreign journalists based in Israel have condemned the Palestinian Authority's harassment of journalists and its suppression of videotape made of Palestinian celebrations in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States this week.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel released the following statement relating to this incident:

"The FPA expresses deep concern over the harassment of journalists by the Palestinian Authority as police forces and armed gunmen tried to prevent photo and video coverage of Tuesday's rally in Nablus where hundreds of Palestinians celebrated the terror attacks in NY and Washington.

"We strongly condemn the direct threats made against local videographers by local militia members and the attitude of Palestinian officials who made no effort to counter the threats, control the situation, or to guarantee the safety of the journalists and the freedom of the press.

"We call on the PA to ensure freedom of the press and the free flow of information and to prevent elements operating within PA jurisdiction from making or carrying out threats that aim to impede this and effectively impose censorship. We hold the PA fully responsible for the safety of each and every journalist operating within their areas, especially those who were filming and covering Tuesday's events in Nablus."